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Artists›William Bell

William Bell

Artist

WA-00046902

Printmaking

Representation

None documented

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Publications Referenced

50%

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1 cross-verified · 0 single-source

Is PublishedPath D Subcohort3 Directory 2026-05-23· 100%✓

Source Registry (1)

Smithsoniansub-cohort-3-backfill:smithsonian
Tier 1 · Institutional50%

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About

Why this artist matters now

William Bell was an American printmaker active in nineteenth-century England, working primarily in etching and engraving. His technical mastery of metal plate processes and attention to tonal subtlety established him as a significant figure in Victorian printmaking. Bell's subjects ranged from landscape and architectural studies to portraiture, executed with the precision characteristic of his generation's engagement with reproductive and creative printmaking alike. Based in England for the majority of his career, he contributed substantially to the revival of etching as a fine art medium during the 1860s and beyond.

Source: Smithsonian Institution · Trust score: 50% · Updated 1mo ago

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6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Smithsonian American Art MuseumWashington, D.C.

Canonical record

Artworks (14)

Grand Cañon, Colorado River, Near Paria Creek, Looking West

1872 · albumen silver print

sheet and image: 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. (27.3 x 20.0 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Cañon of Kanab Wash, Colorado River, Looking South

1872 · albumen silver print

sheet and image: 10 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (27.6 x 20.0 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Looking South into the Grand Cañon, Colorado River, Sheavwitz Crossing

1872 · albumen silver print

sheet and image: 8 x 10 7/8 in. (20.3 x 27.6 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Perched Rock, Rocker Creek, Arizona

1872 · albumen silver print

sheet and image: 10 3/4 x 8 in. (27.3 x 20.3 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Mr. Joseph Brown, Aneurism of the Innominate Artery, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1868 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. (19.0 x 22.2 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Lieutenant Goodwin, Deceased, Ununited Gunshot Fracture of the Upper Third of the Right Femur, Seven Months after the Injury, From the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 x 8 1/2 in. (17.8 x 21.5 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Private John Kelly, Successful Primary Excision of Four inches of the Upper Third of the Shaft of the Right Humerus for Gunshot Fracture, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 1/8 x 8 5/8 in. (18.1 x 21.9 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Private Adolph Zirsse, Successful Intermediate Excision of the Head and two and a half inches of the Shaft of the Right Humerus, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 1/8 x 8 3/4 in. (18.1 x 22.3 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Private G. W. Warrington, Recovery, without Amputation, after Gunshot Fracture of the Right Patella, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (19.0 x 24.1 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Private John Bar, Recovery after a Penetrating Wound of the Abdomen with Fracture of the Left Os Innominatum, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 x 8 1/2 in. (17.8 x 21.5 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Major H. A. Barnum, Recovery after a Penetrating Gunshot Wound of the Abdomen with Perforation of the Left Ilium, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet and image: 8 1/2 x 6 5/8 in. (21.6 x 16.8 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Heads and Fragments of Heads of Humeri, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 7 1/4 x 8 3/4 in. (18.4 x 22.2 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Private Charles Myer, Amputation of the Right Thigh, from the Photographic Catalogue of the Surgical Section

1865 · albumen silver print

sheet: 8 1/2 x 7 1/8 in. (21.6 x 18.1 cm.)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Portrait of a man with an eye malady

1858 · daguerreotype

2 3/4 x 3 1/4 in. (7.0 x 8.3 cm)

Smithsonian American Art Museum

View all 14 artworks →

Artwork sources (1)

14 published of 14 catalogued · 14 with image

Smithsonian
14 published14 img

Record

Images

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

Rev. Jesse Jackson and William Bell (4601731153)

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

Artsy

Met Museum

Relationships

Collections2

Smithsonian American Art Museum Phillips

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Washington, D.C., United States

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Phillips

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